From: "Philip Merryman" <phil_merryman@hotmail.com>

Date: Thu May 23, 2002 04:11:58 PM Etc/GMT

Subject: New York, New York! - Part1: New York

Hi from NY!

Contrary to my expectations I have found a thoroughly good Internet place only one street away from the hotel here in "Little Korea". It is a bit obscure to get to: through the back of a small shop and then up in the elevator to the 5th floor. However when you get in here it's a bit like one of those secret comms. centres you see in the movies: lots of fast & big screen PCs and big reclining office chairs (Managing Director type!) to sit in! Very comfortable! I had hoped that I might even be able to send mails from the hotel, as the TV had internet facilities, but hotmail was not one of them! Anyway, this is more comfortable!

So, where am I in the Big Apple? My hotel is literally only a couple of hundred metres or so from the Empire State Building! The Hotel is on 31st between 5th & Broadway, this internet place is on 32nd between 5th & Bwy, and the Empire State Building is on 5th on occupying the block between 33rd & 34th! (If you don't know NY ask someone who does or try to find a map!) I had deliberately chosen this hotel because of its 3 greatest assets: Location, Location & Location! As it is smack in the middle of Manhattan it is central to all the famous places thus making it easy to get around, but not cheap at $120 per night!

So what have I been up to so far? I arrived on Tuesday afternoon at Pennsylvania station, which is part of the same complex which includes Madison Square Garden, probably the most famous sports venue. I remember it from the 60's as the place where Muhammad Ali had many of his fights, though I am not sure if he fought Our 'Enery here (Henry Cooper to my non UK friends). It always amused me because it is round and not a garden! Madison square park (which is an open area!) is nowhere near it!

Anyway, I digress, on arrival in late afternoon I went for a quick exploratory walk via the Empire State to Times Square. Now just like Madison this is not a square either! It is the place where Broadway and 7th ave cross at an acute angle and where they also cross 42nd st, so in the end is actually two thin triangles point to point. This is the theatre district and, to continue the theme of things not being how they are named, most of these seem to be on 42nd street. So a show "On Broadway" is more than likely not!

I then went back to get the cameras and went up the Empire State Building for the late sun and sunset. It was a cold wind up there! However the ESB is on its own away from the other famous high skyscrapers so you get good views all around and down. I could even see the hotel! There was good visibilty too. Once again I was asked for tourist info! I was asked where the twin towers once stood! This time at least by a fellow Englishman! I had already overheard some others discussing it so I was able to tell him!

By the time I came down and got back to the hotel it was nearly 9pm. Now the hotel does not have dining facilities, so I had to go and find something. There are heaps of cheap pizza and burger take aways in the area. However I stumbled across a Jamaican Restaurant! So I went in there. It was very good and definitely different! And the fact that I was the only white person in there seemed to go unnoticed, though I am sure it wasn't!! (After all I noticed!)

Next day I had booked a 3hr boat trip all around Mahattan Island. This was recommeded to me by a New Yorker I met on the train to Chicago. To get to the pier I had to go via Times Square again, so this time I had my cameras so was able to get some pictures there. A TV company was promoting its "uncensored" month and had 4 young men in briefs only, made up to look like statues, posing. Very popular with the ladies for having there photos taken with them! From there it was about as far again to the pier. I had heaps of spare time so grabbed a burger and while eating it a large contingent of the US fleet arrived!! This coming week is "Fleet Week" here in NY and several ships were arriving in preparation. The crew lined the decks in what I think the navy calls "full dress", though I am sure Dad will remind me of the correct term!

The boat trip circumnavigated the entire island of Manhattan. The pier was at the end of 42nd st on the Hudson River. So from there it first travels south to the tip of the island, past where the twin towers once stood and on to the Statue of Liberty. Although I had only seen the towers in pictures there definitely seemed to be a 'hole in the sky' as there was the distinct feeling of something missing. Then up the east side of the Island beneath the Brooklyn, and other, Bridges, past the UN Building, and on between Manhattan and the Bronx to the top of the island and back into the Hudson. The commentator, Dave, was very informatative and amusing!

After this I was not sure what to do next. It was still only 3.30pm. On the trip Dave had said that there was now a continuous footpath and cycleway all the way along the Hudson river, so I decided to follow this to the southern end. The city is tidying up or renovating the piers all the way along the west side to form a continuous public park. One pier is even a golf driving range! Another pier, with a rusting steel arch entrance, is still awaiting the arrival of the Titanic, and it is also where the Lusitania departed from. Now it is just a flat open surface to walk and go fishing.

Continuing south I eventually reached "Ground Zero". Here there are inevitably all sorts of road closures and diversions. There is still a lot of work continuing and the surrounding area is still dusty. They wet the roads to keep it down. It is possible to get in to see the actual site but, like the Washington Monument, you have to go and get a ticket which allocates you a time later in the day on a first come first serve basis. So I did not actually get to see it, but you get near enough to get the feeling of the place. I stopped for a cup of tea only a couple of hundred yards away at the "Twin Cafe". This place must have been totally engulfed when the towers came down. What I find remarkable is that the damage is contained in a relatively small area where the WTC actually stood. The immediately adjacent buildings have suffered varying degrees of damage and are covered over in these places. However in the next street the building look untouched, though I am sure there must have been many repaired windows in the last few months! Much of the surrounding road surfaces though are covered in steel sheets, or are just rough still.

Round the corner was a chapel with all the tributes still tied to the fence. This was very poignant, with pictures of people, letters to them, flowers, etc, etc.

(An aside and totally personal opinion. In the days of the English wars with the French (eg: Agincourt) the English then had the state of the art weapon system: the Archers with the Longbow. The French boasted that they were going to cut of the the index and middle fingers of every English archer so they couldn't pull the bows. They didn't and as an act of defiance the English waved these two fingers at them! This is he origin of the English 'Two Fingers' sign as a statement of defiance. I think that the towers should be rebuilt bigger and higher than before and thus stick two fingers up in defiance to the people who did this. Getting them insured may be a much harder problem to solve, though perhaps an anti-aircraft radar and missile installation on the roof may help!)

Anyway from Ground Zero it was only a short walk to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. On the way there I passed Trinity Church, a true haven of peace in a bustling city: it was rush hour by now and all the Wall Street types where on there way home. There is a plaque on the steps of the church commemorating where the Queen stood on her visit in 1976. It also said that the Duke of Edinburgh "stood nearby": that rather puts him in his place! :-) Just up the road is the big bronze state of a bull, signifying the "Bull market" optimism, however it took several attempts to get a picture without an oriental person standing in front of it! One was taking a picture of another and third was filming both! I must be careful this is a Korean Internet cafe! :-)

In Battery park there is the memorial to the US Navy and Coastgaurd personnel lost in coastal waters in WW2, with a dramatic statue of an eagle. Also I found an pleasant open air cafe, with a live band, to have a meal while looking across the water to the Statue of Liberty! From there anotehr quick look at Wall street and the Stock Exchange, draped in a huge Stars & Stripes, before getting the Underground, whoops I mean Subway, back to the Hotel! In fact more than once, especially in the area around Wall Street, it did feel like London!

Anyway, off on more adventures today!

Share & Enjoy

Phil